So I have some vacations coming up and already have some quads and a hex I figured I needed a fixed wing to round out my aerial camera fleet. (for now) heh. So I took the plunge and picked myself up an X8 to fill up with electronics.
I'm running an ArduPilot Purple, with a Castle 75 esc waiting for Hobbyking to drop of my new Scorpion motor until then I have a 700W max 50Amp local hobby store motor to power the bird. I'm running 1.2 video feeding through MinimOSD with a Sony 720 line mini cam. I have a roll and tilt GoPro mount in the works that I'll post up some pics when I can get some play time on the router this weekend. Communication is done through a Futaba 10C 72Mhz and some 900Mhz XBees.
I've only made a few mods for now like adding a second motor mount plate that bolt through the foam to the outer plate.
I made some electronics trays and filled in the lower camera cut out with some foam and Gorilla glue.
I ended up bringing the control linkage up through the wing, leaving it on the bottom seemed like a bad idea for a belly lander. I have never flown a or built a fixed wing, but I said the same about the multirotors and DIYDrone's gear and community made it simple, awesome and enjoyable. Only crashes were ah-hem user error. So I'm hoping for the same luck with this bird. I do have tons of hours now on RealFlight sim just to make sure I feel comfortable with the controls. That being said any input from from you guys will be greatly appreciated. I'll update this blog as things progress and as I get the camera mount going. But for now heres some more eye candy. Be happy and safe all!
Comments
A fuel cell is fuel powered (stupid statement) which basically means the more fuel you carry the longer the endurance. Compared with nitro, petrol or lithium; propane is considerably lighter meaning you can carry more. 10hrs is based upon a small thermos flask sized tank.
Unfortunately, FC's aren't commercially available yet. Universities tend to have one or two kicking around but since theyre one-offs they come in around £10k.
I'm hoping the outcomes of my research will help drive the industry forward, but it's still going to be mega expensive, well more than a turbine...for now anyway.
For what is available off the shelf I think you are stuck to LiPo or nitro. I've not looked into it but is lead acid an option with this huge payload??
Simon, I wanted to talk to you about your fuel cell. We're planning a very long endurance flight, and were thinking we'd have to switch to gas. If you can do 10 hours with a fuel cell…we'd like to do 20.
3.96 kg, if I recall correctly (including a 96 g GoPro HD 2 in the nose, required for CG as well :-) ).
Thats awesome Rick. What's your all up weight?
We also had to put the batteries very far forward. We ended up with all the avionics in the back (except for the telemetry radio and airspeed sensor). We ran power cables pretty far. Didn't have any issues at all, although telemetry range might've been reduced because of it. You can get an idea of what we did here (4x 5000 mAh packs).
Troy, I didn't sheild or twist (not saying this is best). Instead I have routed all my signal cables down the starboard side of the fuselage, and the power cables only down the port side and taped it down well out of the way of the rx and APM. No problem yet but could be a ticking bomb!
I have a pretty chunky motor (Hyperion ZS3025-8T) and an alu motor mount which is heavy. There is a pic hereof my minimal internals.
Hi Troy, twisting the wires will help with the emf... Tried and tested solution from a quadcopter, where space for separation is at a definite premium.
Yeah Simon I know what you mean about the COG. I too have found I need a 4s 5000 in the nose to counter the chute in the back. Yet to maiden but I am concerned about the long power run & emf. Im thinking of wrapping the cables in ali foil tape. Whats in the trunk of yours to make it so heavy???
Start with calm wind. The X8 flies very well on default settings.
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